Nico Rosberg claimed his seventh pole position of the season ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who said he had suffered with a brake issue in the final segment of the wet session. Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel took advantage of the tricky conditions to finish third ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Spa had seen torrential rain fall 45 minutes before the start of the session but by the time the green light went on at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of Q1 it had largely abated. Conditions on track were extreme however, with low grip and almost no visibility in the spray.

The early pace was set by Hamilton, the Mercedes driver logging a time of 2:09.492, to head Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo by just under two tenths of a second. The conditions were clearly treacherous, however, and after a trip through a run-off area following radio traffic from his team, Hamilton told his pit wall not to speak to him during his flying laps. Elsewhere, Esteban Gutierrez was in trouble, the Sauber driver coming to a halt at Stavelot corner.

A dry line was forming, however, and after a handful of drivers had opted for full wet tyres the field gradually began to switch to intermediates. With three minutes left in the session, Hamilton and Rosberg were in control at the top of the timesheet, but at the bottom the drivers in the drop zone were Andre Lotterer and Marcus Ericsson of Caterham, Marussia’s Max Chilton, Sauber’s Adrian Sutil and the non-running Gutierrez and Force India’s Sergio Perez. Lotterer was also outside the 107% mark, his time of 2:19.870 well over three seconds adrift of the cut-off.

The German made it through with his final lap, however, posting a time of 2:13.469 to finish just under a second in front of team-mate Ericsson, who finished in 22nd position.

Perez too made it out of the drop zone, rising to P12. It was the opposite story for team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. The German dropped to 18th place and out of the session, complaining that his brakes had “felt colder and colder” and that he had “lost all confidence” in his car.

Also out were Pastor Maldonado who finished ahead of Hulkenberg, Max Chilton, Gutierrez, Lotterer and Ericsson. Rosberg topped the segment ahead of Hamilton, Williams’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas and Jean-Eric Vergne.

The standout performance was from Jules Bianchi in the Marussia, who made it through to Q2 for the second year in succession here, on merit.

Q2 saw the condition change throughout, with a mid-segment shower soaking the track once more. Vergne hadn’t emerged in the early part of the session and when the rain came it looked like he had left his runs too late. When he jumped from P16 to 12th with his first flying lap, the signs looked positive, but as he kept running on intermediate tyres and kept improving, so too this those around him and positions in the lower reaches of the top 10 remained fluid throughout.

In the end, Vergne could not muscle his way into Q3 and finished 12th, just behind Toro Rosso team-mate Daniil Kvyat, who had risen to P8 but then dropped back to P11 as first Jenson Button and then Sebastian Vettel found sufficient improvement to slot into P10 and P7 respectively.

At the top end Hamilton finished Q2 in P1 ahead of Rosberg with Fernando Alonso third ahead of Bottas.

Q3 saw conditions improve through, with the session ending in bright sunshine. Vettel set the first lap of the segment but it was Rosberg who set the pace, recording a lap of 2:05.698 as Hamilton complained about his brakes not feeling right. Mercedes issued instructions as to how the Briton could get temperature into his brakes but the tactic seemed not to work as the Briton could find no way past his team-mate when the final runs took place.

Rosberg claimed pole with a time of 2:05.591, just over two tenths clear of Hamilton, who afterwards he suffered with a glazed brake.

Red Bull Racing profited in the conditions with Vettel third and Ricciardo fifth. Fernando Alonso split the Renault-powered pair. Williams, expected to be Mercedes main challenger here, finished sixth and ninth, with Bottas quicker than Massa. Kevin Magnussen qualified in P7 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button was 10th.

I was under the impression that King Lewis was the master at ‘driving around’ problems. I must have read that a hundred times before. Seems a glazed (read, cold) brake does not fall under the category of ‘problems’ otherwise he would driven around it. That was a shot at the zealot section of his fan club, not the normal fans
Missing pole by a smidge is not a real biggie here anyway. Psychologically it’s not ideal but in reality it’s fine. Long, tough race etc, etc.

Yes I’m sure the race wll fall into Hamilton’s hands again and I won’t be dwn the circumstances or the superiority of the car it’ll be Hamilton’ brilliance…
Yet the reality is Hamilton is out qualified again by someone who was beaten easily by Webber and also had troubles in 2012 quite often in quali against a 43 year old.
Quali battl at Merc: Nico 8-4 Hamilton.

It does sound a little convenient, although Rosberg has complained the car wasn’t right on occasion (like in China), so who knows?

I think the start is the best chance for Hamilton to win tomorrow, he’s generally been stronger there and in spite of some close finishes the lead car after the first lap has tended to be the winner, as the other car can’t really use strategy to beat them.

Yeah, I mean, Lewis obviously complains too much… “My brake exploded”… “My car caught fire”… “I’ve only got 5 cylinders firing”… When really he should just get on with driving the car.

I mean, next you’ll hear Rosberg complaining that if he’d just had all 8 gears, he could have finished the race at Silverstone this year.

Gee… 9 degrees C in the wet, and Hamilton had brake problems? Unbelievable. I mean, he worked so hard to sell the idea he had brake problems that he ran wide at La Source twice, just so he’d have a convincing reason to not get pole.

I think the takeaway from this is if you don’t like the driver, he complains too much, and if you like the driver, his car is unreliable.

He is the one in charge of the pedal. When its cold and wet you work your brakes to keep them up. Simples. Any half wit can do that. I though it was more the traction that cost him. Its no biggie. He will have Rosberg tomorrow. No way Rosberg beats him if there is no crashing and the cars run.

So Nico Hulkenberg is also a halfwit, since he could never get his brakes to the right temperature… and Paddy Lowe apparently doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he said “… in the wet it is always difficult to get the right brake temperatures – not too hot, not too cold,”.

That’s not Lewis complaining, it’s Mercedes giving him an unreliable car! If the car isn’t functioning it’s impossible to run in a race let alone win. I mean what do you expect? Do you expect him to run with a car on fire, continue with a damaged engine, or brakes? If the brakes don’t work the car doesn’t stop!

I couldn’t agree more. I think lewis’ diamond earrings are playing with his cognition again. Rosberg is looking solid, Hamilton is looking susceptible. He needs to get some guidance as pulling out the list of excuses every weekend isn’t going to win him a championship……

Lewis is definitely msking rosbergs life easy in qualifying latley, small mistakes again, ill big rosberg up as a 1 lap hotshot, when lewis gets his qually mojo back, whacks in a stonking lap, and then rosberg beats it, then I shall give rosberg credit, he’s yet to earn any of his poles this year fair and square againts lewis, not rosbergs fault, thats down to lewis, as for the race, barring reliability problums and dodgy pitstops it should be a great battle between the 2, its a fifty fifty call, a bit disappointing at the williams, I suppose they needed dry qually, but should be storming in the race, a good 3rd for seb, alonso his usual consistent self, barring the mercs, who will disappear, it should be a great race for the last spot on the podium

Make all the excuse you want but the fact was look at Rosbrg’s lap! it was slow and steady and scared to go near any apex, this car is overwhelmingly good and yet we have a couple of overrated drivers both constantly trying to throw the championship away.

Brake issue or not – 2nd on the grid is better than being at the back or starting from the pit-lane!
Incredibly, this is Lewis first front row start since Canada!
Anyway, keep it clean and tidy into the 1st corner lads! I’ve posted this earlier, but I think if you’re going to have a standing start at Spa, the old downhill pit start into Eau Rogue is better than doing a clutch start and then to have whack on the brakes – with a full tank of fuel remember – into the tight fiddly La Source. That’s just asking for trouble……………
I hope I’m wrong, but 9 times out of 10 there’s some sort of incident into La Source. Remember 2012?

I think it is quite clear that Hamilton did have a brake issue in Q3. It was self evident that something wasn’t quite right because having been dominant suddenly in better conditions he was struggling, and that being the case he did well to be just two tenths behind his team mate. As to how it came about I suspect it was due to tempering the brakes in treacherous conditions. Anyway should be fixed for the race. I was surprised at the margin Mercedes had and I wonder what upgrades they brought, but it should be noted that this is a circuit where power and traction count, but further surprisingly it was in the wet and one wonders what the margin is in the dry. Beyond that I hope it’s a dry race.

Tim OK Rosberg put a final last lap in as the circuit was improving, but before then Hamilton had dominated as he did in Q2, and would have done in Q3 had it not been for a glazed brake disc. Timesheets show what was done over a period but not how it was done and what the prevailing conditions were. Not to take anything away form Rosberg as his Q3 laps were solid. Always a tricky circuit as it can be dry in one area and wet in another, but I’m hoping for a dry race.

That’s because he is both weak minded and a prima Donna … He might might have a tenth on Rosberg, but Nico makes up for it with being almost as fast as Hamilton and being constantly more concistant. Let ham get into his excuses… As DC mentioned…. Hamilton was on charge of those brakes. He didn’t manage them he got out driven by Rosberg once again. Rosberg is a much more complete driver than Hamilton. Full stop.

I do agree with you. I went into the season supporting Hamilton vs Rosberg (seeing how bad Ferrari was and having no chance to see my favorite team challenging for the win)….but Rosberg gain my respect and I am starting to believe that Hamilton might be a bit over-rated. Talented, but lacking something to be on par with greatest drivers.

How many races did Rosberg win before this season ? How many did Hamilton win ? Rosberg is a very good driver with and OUTSTANDING CAR, Hamilton is an OUTSTANDING DRIVER with an almost outsanding car. I do not like Toto Wolf body language when Lewis is faster in practice and qualis, it changes when Rosberg is faster. There is a hidden agenda between these two.

Indeed. As I said in a previous post on another thread, poles are nice, and it’s definitely been too long for Lewis to notch one up, but what is absolutely essential are front rows. And he’s got that today. He won from 2nd in 2010. Since 2005, the race has been won from pole 3x, from 2nd 4x, and from 6th 1x (from 8 races).

Haven’t we all been wanting for one of the Mercedes drivers to pass the other for the win? And not just at the start, like in Bahrain.

Let’s hope there’s no incident at turn 1 that wrecks the race as a spectacle. Grosjean’s idiocy at the start in 2012 took out two of the title challengers, and was terribly cruel to Sauber (Perez out from P4, and Kobayashi thrown to the back after starting P2).

Caterham is faster than the fastest LMP1 car, at Spa in May the best an LMP1 car could do was a 1:59 and over the whole week a sub 2min lap was achieved only ONCE, now in FP3 the Caterham managed a 1:54.2, over 5secs quicker than the Porsche 919 and that was in FP3 and a drying track, I’d bet this Caterham would do a 1:51 on a rubbered in bone dry track in quali, so no LMP1 cars are not that quick.
So even current F1 cars doesn’t have “lousy cornering capability compared to LMP”, F1 cars are over 12secs a lap quicker than the fastest LMP1 cars and that’s with the Toyota having almost 1000hp, imagine F1 cars with bigger brakes and 1000hps.

@ rob O1…i think perhaps you have misread lotterers’ comments. he actually said that the LMP1 car was faster in the corners/he could drive the car harder through the corners. no where did i see him say that the audi R18 was faster on a full lap than the caterham. that would be stupid comment to make and lotterer is not stupid.

Kenneth,
Makes sense as the LMP cars are all wing, look at the front and rear wings on those things – and that’s not even looking in-between. Remember, this is the class of car that Weber took flight in thanks to rear down force. So it makes sense that it would be better into turns than 2014 F1.

@Nick, it amazes me how people will remember things the way they want to. Rosberg wasn’t long gone when Lewis had the problem with dirt in his eye in Monaco. Hamilton was 0.691s behind Nico at lap 62 (of 78), just three laps before dirt got in his eye. Throughout that race, he was able to close up to Rosberg at will. On lap 65, he lost 2.3 seconds, and that was basically it.

Lewis’ race pace at Monaco was strong, and better than Rosberg’s. Nico was saved by the SC coming out when it did that day, denying Lewis any shot of jumping him at the pit stops, which is the only realistic way to jump a sister car at Monaco.

Fuji 2007? He had to make a teenager crash into the back of Webber for him to have a easy route to victory, but before the safety car both Webber and vettel were closing in on him. Monza 2008? I remember a 20 year old Vettel in a inferior car beat the best car in the wet that season (McLaren) quite comfortably, where did Hamilton finish again?

@ roboi……in fact if i recall correctly the acciodent between vettel and webber was put down to hamilton weaving all over the track. that was going to be webbers maiden F1 win, given the speed that he was closing down hamilton. vettel also broke down in the garage and was in ‘tears’ after that little episode. what? did someone call him a wuss?

It’s always nice seeing the drivers fight their machines especially at a undulating track like Spa.

Congrats to the Mercedes team on their first 1-2 since Canada, it would appear on engine based tracks the team is about 2 seconds faster.

However, I was surprised Rosberg got the job done for wet qualies haven’t been his strongest.

Also surprised Red Bull ended up being the second fastest team but I guess the wet conditions played into their favour >>> but we wait for dry conditions to get confirmation of this.

Alonso did well to finish ahead of both Williams and Mclarens and places himself in a nice position to avoid first lap incidents and thus score some good points as usual.

I think Williams will be disappointed with the performance for the rhetoric going into the weekend was giving Mercedes a run for their money but now it’s up to the drivers to make the team proud on race day.

Likewise Mclaren didn’t put in a good showing and with average grid slots, points maybe tricky as Mclaren have tended to score big once they qualified high up.

Special mention to Bianchi for making it through Q1, in my book he has done enough to secure a top drive.

Also special mention to Grosjean for maintaining his record of having the best qualifying stat against a teammate in the field currently 11 to 1

Last but not least special mention to new kid of the block Lotterer for getting one over his teammate at the first time of asking.

Sorry James, perhaps there’ some confusion: what I meant was assuming Kimi’s contract is water-tight for 2015, Bianchi will stay at Marussia and then this time next year be confirmed as a Ferrari driver for 2016.
We all know it will happen sooner or later – why else would Ferrari pour lots of Euros into a drivers career? It certainly isn’t out of charity!
Actually, “farming” out a driver – i.e letting him race in a small team while the bigger team whose sponsoring him picks up the bills – is actually a very good way of getting young blades experience of Formula 1 and then a couple of years later promoting them to the “big boys” division.
Apologises for that term “farm team”, but I’m sure everyone knows what I mean even if it does sound a bit cliched.

It might be frustrating for him right now but with a little patience his F1 future with Ferrari should be fairly secure. I might be completely off the mark, but I think that moving to another team (essentially abandoning Ferrari) would jeopardise that.

RE Goferet and Random 79: 12 odd months from now, you watch, Bianchi will be confirmed as the Scuderia’s Knight in Nomex Armour.
Perhaps he’s the “chosen one” who Ferrari can base themselves around to revive their World Championship aspirations. Make sense – they did it with Niki Lauda and Michael, so third time lucky with Bianchi?

COME ON LEWIS YOU CAN BEAT HIM ON SUNDAY.
Glazed brake on Lewis car. Hope this doesn’t mean any dodgy brake issues on Sunday.
Hope Lewis gets a good start & golden balls is pushed into 3rd place by Vettel.
Come on Lewis no more hiccups from his side of the garage.

On another note with the Russians invading Ukrainian again with there so called military lorries painted white & not waiting for checks by Red Cross. Surely this should be a sign not to have a race in Russia.
If heavy artillery & weapons are being transported on the sly (which no doubt is happening). How on earth can the F.I.A justify the presence of F1 in Russia. It can only represent Bernie having no care other than a big fat bank account of Roubles. It does show he is a unscrupulous individual. I can remember when F1 raced in South Africa when Apartheid was in full swing. Bahrain were still doctors are facing death penalty for helping injured people.China Abu Dabi were asians servants are used like slaves.
Seems like Bernie loves regions were Amnesty International & UN deem corrupt & have poor human rights issues oh not to mention Azerbaijan. I assume of Pol Pott was alive we’d be racing there too.

On the Lewis front, I’m sure he’ll try his best! Just get that clutch bite point correct first off………..
As for the political front, yes, it’s sad that Formula 1 dips its toe into dubious waters. I know grand prix racing is a “world championship” but for “world” read “western world”. The tension in the Middle East, North Africa, Russia and China should persuade F1 to stick to its heartlands in Europe, the New World, Oceania and Japan.
May common sense prevail.

Yeah, because Europe and the New a World have no blood on their hands. Paging Tony Blair and George W. Bush. Illegal invasions and torture are fine when it’s the west doing it in the name of freedom. And of course, the British Empire was nothing but fair, tolerant and peaceful.

RE DC Coret: In all fairness, the grand prix at Texas and Silverstone have nothing to do with Bush/Blair, where as the GP Sochi is Mr Putin’s personal vanity project, as the GP’s in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi to a certain extent.
I think Pkara has a valid point in that ethics have small bearing on finances, at least in the world of Mr E. That’s the point – Mr E’s world is a bubble, seemingly disconnected with the reality of the violent flux that the planet in 2014 is going through.

Russians invading Ukraine? How much you really know about it? Are you even close to these events? People are so naive and will swallow pretty much anything that politicians and media will push to support propaganda. Ukraine is nothing but a battlefield and it is a story between US and Russia.

Mr E was interviewed by the BBC, and he was 100% insistent that Formula 1 would roll into Sochi for the weekend of 10-12 October this year.
Eddie Jordan on the BBC was also pretty insistent that the BBC live coverage will take place at Sochi this year as well.
If Mr E says F1 is going to Russia, then it’s pretty final in that decision. Like Pkara, I have my own doubts about hosting an event that is Mr Putin’s vanity project, but Mr E says he has a signed contract for F1 to go to Sochi and that he intends to honour that agreement.
At the end of the day, what TV spectators such as ourselves think is irrelevant when it comes to the murky world of contracts in grand prix racing: sad, but true. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that F1 is going to Russia, I don’t agree with that decision, but to a certain extent the teams and television companies don’t have any choice in the final decision.
Mr E does.

Well said Gazboy…Seems like Bernie is back to being ‘Darth Siddius’ & bringing his darkside contracts with him. That man could probably squeeze blood from a stone. I’m sure he sits in a regeneration chamber like Darth Vader
He’ll outlive the Ebola virus or pay it to go away

When a Russian humanitarian convey drives into another country without permission and straight into a stronghold held by pro-Russian rebels you can understand how dodgy it appears… the truth is the first casualty of war…

I could swear US and Britain have been constantly bombing and attacking countries all around the world for the last 20-30 years. For no good reason either. And yet, they use nice euphemisms to make it seem like it’s all not a big deal. Like all those people dying in bombings are just some numbers, just some statistics.
War in Ukraine is not against Ukraine. Ukraine lost its chance of freedom when US-sponsored “freedom fighters” overthrew Ukraine’s corrupted president in a violent, armed conflict, bordering on civil war. Only then did Putin decide to react, because Ukraine is too close to allow US to run its puppet regime there. All in all, there’s no Ukraine anymore. It’s just a territory that will be controlled by either Russia or US. I’d personally prefer it to be Russia, for the sake of the balance and because of the fact it’s on their border, and most importantly, Russian allied states tend to have much more stable governments. Wherever US interfered to “help”, the devastation and explosion of violence ensued.

Ok let’s be political then with fairness mate. Based on what you have written there should be no race in UK, USA & AUS for invading & essentially destroying Iraq for so called “weapon & mass destruction”. Or in any of the countries that supported G. Bush & T. Blair’s riot over nothing. Now there is more terrorism, suicide bombing, civilian killing than the world has ever seen. UK, USA & Aus to take the biggest blame for this worldwide chaos. And these three countries killed more civilians, women & children than terrorists for the name of protecting the world. They didn’t even hide their convoys full of explosives!!! So, please F1 has politics within itself anyway, Russia is a fine place for any sport. We are not cheering anybody’s bad actions, just want to enjoy nice clean fast race in a great track. And for Lewis, he need to accept being beaten fair & square. Enough of blaming the rest of the world for his own issues. That’s like G. W. Bush himself.

C63, those darn issues early on with Renault are really costing them. Even if MB has reliability issues they can’t take advantage of it as RBR are in worse engine situation to MB drivers.
I wanted the 4 timers to defend, and while RBR are only ones to win, this is not the type of defence I hoped for. I had moments where math got my hopes up, but I was foolish – there was no hope.

Google G55 Car and Driver and read the “Exit Interview” of a G55. Very funny, and covers this 63/55 thing.

@Sebee
Hey, can you tell me why they call it 63? It’s still a 5.5L right?…

Not entirely sure why you are asking me, perhaps you should address your question to Mercedes. The engine in a C63 is a normally aspirated V8 with a cylinder capacity of 6208cc, so not quite 6300cc – mind you, motor manufacturers often take licence in such matters and tend to round things up.
With regard to your original comment, I’m afraid the waters are no nearer to clearing and remain muddied – perhaps you would be so kind as to clarify?
As for you claiming to be not worried about Vettels performance this season, I have to say I am surprised. I know the Red Bulls are not going to win either championship this season and therefore it doesn’t matter, in that sense, but even so. Surely you would have wanted/expected the current 4x WDC to be a little more impressive against the teams #2 (you said Vettel is #1 in team).
I know I would. Hey ho, I guess you just have lower standards than me (and many others) or perhaps you are just trying to put on a brave face

So after the demise of Vettel and all his problems all season in quali, race, winter testing and practice sessions he is still only 7-5 down in quali against Ricciardo (better than 8-4), am I the only one in seeing that Vettel might still beat Ricciardo in the qualifying battle this season especially if Vettel goes up a gear like he usually does in 2nd half of a season?

The Magi are alive and writing on the JAF1 website!
Let’s face it, the FIA and FOM could do with at least Three Wise Men…………..preferably one to replace a small chap with a pudding basin haircut, and the other two to do the production/direction of the live TV feed which actually concentrates on the racing rather than the pit lane eye candy.

Clearly there are plenty of people who know absolutely NOTHING about brakes and just assume that when Hamilton say’s he had a brake problem that automatically means the team has given him faulty equipment.

If indeed he did suffer from glazed brakes then it’s HAMILTON’S FAULT!

Clearly he didn’t bed them in correctly as I highly doubt he overheated them.

Spa I’ll give you, but at the risk of opening a can of worms there’s no way I’m counting Monaco as a clean victory for obvious reasons

This was also impressive because it was in the wet, and previously Rosberg has been solidly behind Hamilton in all wet qualifying (when Lewis has bothered to finish his laps…) so fair play to him, he keeps putting himself in the best position.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow, will we actually get a duel for the lead that doesn’t fizzle out? If anywhere can deliver it surely Spa can.

KRB, I don’t care really. Just pointing out facts. This is Spa, not Monaco. Pole is nice, but not nearly as important. We’ll have a fight today. Lewis will be hard on the toys again – which means we should have continuation of action from Hungary. That I care about!

I have to agree – it’s getting a bit late in the day for the “Kimi will improve” line.

I’ve said several times now that Bianchi should stick with Marussia until Ferrari are ready to take him on, but here’s something I said late last year in regards to Ricciardo: “Somebody give that boy a Red Bull”.

They did, and I think it turned out pretty well, so now I’m saying in regards to Bianchi: “Somebody give that boy a Ferrari”.

@ glenb….as bob dylan said in his immortal hit, ‘dignitys’ left the room’ & ‘ at one time he coulda been the champion of the world’ la di la,’ and the all white jury agreed’…….something like that or have i got it mixed up?

Great job by Rosberg and with Lewis right next to him, we should have an exciting race tommorow. Kimi looked promising in practice but didn’t deliver when it counted. Still could be a threat in the race tommorow. My star of the day though was Littered. Embarrassing for Ericson.
Honourable mention to Hamilton’s excuses for being plain slower than Nico.

A true champion is one who delivers when it matters most. I am a big fan of Hamiltons’ but I must say, his glass mental is letting down his lavish talent, giving the edge to the more controlled Rosberg. And the winghnings aren’t doing any good. I am afraid, this championship is Rosbergs’ to lose because he is mentally stronger.

Yes I agree. Its very hard to come back the way he has. I though he would have been reduced to a mess by now but he hasn’t. He’s a star. No doubt. But, so is the berg. Way better than I thought. How good was Schumacher! He still had it at 42!!!

@Jon
When Rosberg found himself down to something like 4th or 5th, after a fluffed start at China, he didn’t look too impressive. In Hungary, he also made very heavy weather of overtaking. Rosberg is plenty fast, out front in clear air, but when he has to mix it in close wheel to wheel situations he just doesn’t cut the mustard. Dismissing Hamiltons recent drives from the back of the field demonstrates a lack of understanding, on your part, of just how difficult that was. Here is a link to a GP2 race, where Hamilton overtakes a great many drivers (following a spin) – you might find it interesting to watch.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQv5sVYdTaA

@Jon
Interesting that you believe Rosberg would have made it through the entire field without contact. He couldn’t make it past one driver without hitting them today – perhaps its not as easy as you thought after all.

Well, I’m a Hamilton fan … I don’t think many Hamilton fans have dismissed Nico out of hand. Those that do – like I said – haven’t been watching the last few seasons of F1. Nico is a very solid driver.

I was saying after the first four or five races that Hamilton had become finally the complete driver, and had closed partially the gap that separates him from Fernando Alonso. He is not far from the overall pure speed of Alonso, I mean the average speed in all different conditions (different cars, tyres, weather, one lap pace, 1 stint pace, etc). As I say, he is close, the closest of all them, but not quite there. So I thought he had closed the gap regarding consistency and traffic and overtaking management. There was still a not big gap in overall average speed and a bigger one in terms of race management, the ability to read the race, an special ability that Alonso has which I think is unique in the history of the sport.

So as I said, I thought Hamilton had partially closed the gap, and he was very close. However, now I am sad to see he still makes mistakes, and doesn’t seem as comfortable as Alonso on the edge. He still lacks that ultimate consistency. I am wondering if he is going to get ever there. I really hope so, because I really want to see a fight between Hamilton and Alonso for the championship, with a version of Hamilton similar to that of the beginning of the year.
I think if he wins this year, he’ll get there, and if he does (and Ferrari gives Alonso a good car) we could see something very special, maybe unique in the history of the sport.

FI were vert confident in their long runs race pace, but coming from 13th and 18th will be a tough ask. Not impossible, but difficult.
Having said that, perhaps being at the back of the grid for the Hulk is actually a benefit in disguise – we all know the mayhem that usually happens at the 1st corner!

Ham 2 dnfs ros 1 dnf_ ham 2 major qually dnfs, ros 0 qually issues, and ham is only 11 points behind, reverse the problums and lewis would be well clear with one hand on the wdc, all in all with the issues ham has had to rosberg, he’s doing ok, when he’s had no probs, he’s consistently been the quicker driver, its time all the anti ham fans to put things into perspective, if the issues had been reversed all we would here is , lucky hamilton, but all we get is prost like, steady like rosberg, who they all forget has made so many mistakes this year, and can you imagine the uproar if it had been lewis in Monaco bringing out the yellow flag to stop rosberg getting pole, this site would still be banging on about the cheat hamilton..

You fail to mention Rosberg’s lost points with car issues that didn’t result in a DNF, in China he had debris stuck in his front wing, couldn’t challenge for win, in Canada he had the same problem Hamilton had but managed it better but still lost the win, in Hungary his brake by wire failed and had to push the brake bias all the way to the front, that coupled with the safety car cost him the win, then of course the biggest wammy at Silverstone where Hamilton took that win when Rosberg was leading, if it wasn’t for all the issues Rosberg would be well in the lead!

damn right, at end of quali I reflected that on equal fortunes Lewis could be maybe 40 points clear by now at least. . he’s done the hard work but missed the rewards. But as the saying goes you make your own luck and somehow he’s got to get on top of the fortune fairy who’s been a bit fickle; lets hope she comes back for the rest of the year, 1F she does the WDC should go his way, and thats a F1 1F if ever there was one.

if ifs and buts were candy and nuts ….. If only Hamilton fans could take their hands of their WDCs and deal with reality – we wouldn’t have to listen to their delusional dreams of a fairer, pro-Hamilton result every week.

When are people going to stop thinking the quickest drivers are necessarily the best? Hamilton is faster than Alonso but has NEVER outpointed him and in better cars most of those years I may add.

Yes, he has such bad luck (as Vettel) but he has made qualy blunders in at least 2 races. He was close to disaster in Hungary trying to get to the front too quickly – Button said it right – he overreacts and does silly things when under pressure.

Quite frankly, as much of a whiner as Vettel is, I think he has handled his misfortune better and will prove the naysayers wrong from here on out.

HAM is still is the better driver and in good shape to win the WDC, but I’m beginning to wonder if he has the emotional stability to handle it.

Yes seriously quick Nico that could only qualify 10-10 against a 43 year old Schumacher in 2012 and also the same Nico that was smashed by Webber in 2006 at Williams, maybe its because Hamilton isn’t as good as the brits try to make out he is, after all Hamilton was beaten by a ‘slow’ Jenson Button.

The team said it was a cold brake. My experience with glazed pads is from overheating, not underheating. Was it hot or was it cold? Cant be both…. Come to think of it, it wouldn’t matter. Lewis can drive around problems

Interestingly, I don’t think Lewis has ever been entirely comfortable – in terms of the “feel” – with the brakes on his Mercedes steed ever since he joined the team in early 2013. I think his preferred brakes are only available to McLaren – contractual issues I think.
Perhaps James or Matt Meadows can investigate the brake set up – both literally and manufacturers set up – at Mercedes, because while it hasn’t hugely slowed Lewis down, a slight lack of feel for his car’s braking feel has certainly nullified a lot of Lewis advantage compared to his Macca career. A lot of Lewis lap time advantage at McLaren, especially in qualifying was down to his ability to brake late, yes, but crucially, not to brake AS MUCH as his opponents.
Like I mentioned, perhaps James and Matt Meadows can investigate this issue, because I have a feeling Lewis is still a bit niggly over his brakes feel. I may be wrong, but it could explain why he has been outqualified in a straight fight when you would have expected Lewis to wipe the floor with Rosberg Junior on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s all about the feel…………….with the left foot of course!

Yes I think you are right with this. This years car while much improved (in terms of brake feel) over last year probably still isn’t exactly what Lewis wants, and loses a bit of time because of it. Of course it also depends whether Rosberg would derive any improvement from using the same set up. All that said I think Rosberg has been underrated for a long time. It should also be remembered that car characteristics suit particular drivers, and that is no better demonstrated by Vettel’s turn of fortune against Ricciardo this year. The reason why Schumacher was so dominant was because he had Ferrari build him precisely the car he wanted with all the most suited components including tyres. Given all that driver comparisons are fraught with difficulty. Anyway it’s going to be an interesting race.

How many years are we going to be talking that Lewis is never entirely comfortable with his breaks? Do you think Alonso is very comfortable with his Ferrari? You make things work for yourself and find a way around problems to be the best out there. If I think about my work environment, it is the same – you never feel comfortable and it is rarely the case that things work only to my strengths, but I have to find a way to be the best out there considering everything I have at my disposal. Period.

Today Rosberg was better and today Rosberg made his breaks work for him, Lewis did not.

I still think DC has flackbacks to 1998 when he a) wiped out half the field at the 1st start and b) in the re-started race had a bit of “aggro” with Michael! In those instances, its understandable he sometimes gets things a bit wayward at Spa.
Got to hand it to Mr Tight Trousers, to completely write off half the F1 field in a matter of 10 odd seconds is quite an achievement………………

I do agree with you. I went into the season supporting Hamilton vs Rosberg (seeing how bad Ferrari was and having no chance to see my favorite team challenging for the win)….but Rosberg gain my respect and I am starting to believe that Hamilton might be a bit over-rated. Talented, but lacking something to be on par with greatest drivers.

Agree, you get the impression the directors/producers are chasing F1′s image instead of chasing the cars via the cameras.
Another irritant is just before the start when the director pans to a shot of Christian Horner or Ron Dennis, or whatever TP is around. Who wants to say a sweating TP tensed up when the race is about to start? What does it prove? That TP’s get nervous before a start? Who doesn’t?

Thanks for pointing that out James, I was just about to comment on the dry weather, top speed setting RB employed.. I wouldn’t write RB off yet in this race, but can they make up the gap? Even NL indicated SV shouldn’t be written off yet.

Also DR’s long run race pace was competitive, splitting the Mercedes. Could be quite interesting and entertaining!

Curiously, last year Fernando ran his car with skinny wings and yet despite being on light downforce was delighted with the handling of his car as he battled through the field to finish 2nd.It was the same in 2012 when Jenson also ran a skinny wing set up and was thrilled with the balance of his car to the extent he dominated qualifying and the race.
Strange – you would taking off downforce would be detrimental to a car’s balance and high speed handling, and yet as Jenson and Fernando have demonstrated, apparently not. How does that work out?
Ah, aerodynamics, the invisible black art of motor sport.

i would’ve loved to be a viewer at eau rouge watching both red bulls transit!!!! salutations for just getting through are in order.

a pity that ricciardo had his moment at blanchimont otherwise he would’ve clinched third and beaten vettel. it was wet and merde happens. nevertheles he is is still, along with vettel and alonso, in a position to attack and given the race pace that DR has it should be a great fight for the bottom step.

Well It’s actually a low downforce track! Obviously a compromise has to be met, but straightline speed has proven more important than grip in the twisty section. Hamilton had a higher downforce set up last year and got wiped out by Vettel in the race as his car was not fast enough along the straighter sections

VET will come on like gangbusters as his confidence is increasing even through the bad luck so we will see what Dan is made of. I think VET will consistently out race him the remaining races but I’ve been wrong before:)

Kimi still one second down on Alonso – I think most Kimi supporters have faced the facts.

@ jon…who will finish up with the most points at the end? vettel really does have to put in some incredible races if he is beat daniel.he needs to outpoint ricci by approx 5 points every race to finish up 2 points ahead…….i think. don’t forget that in the analysis of the YTD daniel has had his points deleted in race one, a DNF in race two and a ten place grid penalty in race three which just about negates vettel’s issues over the same period.

Not much talk about Vettel here – he seems to be finding his groove even though his bad luck continued causing him to miss much needed practice. I would say superlative is not too strong a word for todays effort.

Though it means little if RIC beats him (again) tomorrow, If VET follows through and starts accumulating podiums and beating RIC, it will be interesting to see how RIC handles it. I think RIC is going to find beating VET a lot more difficult than the previous races.

Nikki Lauda said after qualifying Hamilton didnt listen to his engineers how to warm up his brakes in these conditions properly and thats why he didnt get the best out of his car today. Not a biggie, happens to all of them at some point but 100 % driver error James, no reliabity issue no matter how much you try to paint a different picture to cover up his shortcomings once again after you did the same after the last race. Maybe it is sponsor related again or because he is british but you make an awful lot of questionable excuses lately for a certain Mercedes driver. Have you been taken over by Sky by any chance ?

Couldn’t agree more! I think James has his Hamilton fan club membership card sitting beside his laptop when he writes some of this stuff.

But it’s the same with a lot of British journalists – I’m getting sick to death of it. Every qualifying and every race where Rosberg beats Hamilton all we hear is how Hamilton ‘lost pole’ or ‘lost the race’. It’s never ‘Nico beat Lewis’, oh no!

The headlines on a lot of British F1 sites are the same. When Rosberg get’s pole it’s ‘Rosberg just edges Hamilton to pole’ or ‘Hamilton issue costs him pole’ but when the entitled little princess Hamilton takes pole it’s ‘Hamilton takes dominant pole’ or ‘Hamilton unstoppable’ or other such nonsense!

If you look in the top right hand corner of your screen, there should be a red box with an X in it. Now, if you can manoeuvre the mouse and hover the pointer over the X – managed that, good – now right click the mouse.
Voila, all your troubles and woes gone

with all due respect james is not a natural fan of hamilton. he said so in the past however i suspect he’s trying to be supportive for professional reasons and is leaving some holes.
james is certainly not as you describe him. he prefers alonso and we all know alonso is spanish. it’s better to draw a conclusion based on more than a single piece of evidence.

Absolutely agree with you. It is purely Hamilton’s fault and it is Rosberg on top, being faster and more consistent. We might all be surprised by the end of the year that Rosberg is in fact a better driver. And if he continues like this, he is the one who deserves a title.

All I wanted to see this year is a title won because of a driver and not reliability problems. If from now on there are not going to be any reliability problems for Hamilton and Rosberg will still win it, he is a better driver.

If there are no reliability problems between now and season’s end and Rosberg wins by fewer than 20-odd points then it wont prove he’s the better driver, he’ll have just won it because of Hamilton’s poor reliability up until now. This was a strong performance from Rosberg but it doesn’t magically wipe out what’s already happened.

Pole would be nice, and it’s definitely been too long for Lewis to snag one, but if Hamilton wins tomorrow, how much will Rosberg’s pole today matter? Puts him firmly in line for the Pole Trophy though!

Well done Nico; he beat Lewis fair and square. But , I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow- barring mishaps, I expect Lewis to win.
Now, how about wet weather, changeable conditions maestro being out qualified 1.1 seconds by a rookie?

David Coulthard pointed out that brakes glaze due to driver inputs.True that Hamilton had car problems for 2 qualifying sessions.Neverthless, it is impressive that Rosbeg is 8-4 up against Hamilton who is considered a very fast driver.
My money is still on Hamilton to win the race.Expect him to beat Rosberg at pitstops.
Also hope Red bull doesn’t screw up Vettel’s strategy tomorrow. Can’t see Ricciardo finishing again ahead of Vettel without overtaking him on the track.

@ james…..have your ever observed the ‘renewable contract lap’. it is a very unique phenomena that when contracts are up for review that the driver in question always seems to be able to conjure up a few tenths that weren’t there before???

Shocking prediction…………………Macca will stick with their current driver line up for 2015 by offering them both a one year extended contract.
Another shocking prediction……………..Ferrari will stick with their current line up for 2015……..as will Red Bull………….as will Merc…………..as will Lotus…………
Of course, my guesses are all supposition, but I think for continuity the top teams will stick with their lot for 2015.

Not really fair, Lewis is the kind of driver who blames himself easy when performance is missing. He actually tends to do that too often. He took the blame for: Canada, Austria and Silverstone. Perhaps you feel Hockenheim and Hungary were his fault?

A team mate now who is a faster qualifier! That must hurt after having a team mate for 3 years at Macca who was a faster race driver!

And before you all start, I suggest you do a little homework! Button started BEHIND Hamilton over 75% of races together yet got more podiums. That tells me that Hamilton was by far the better qualifier but Button was the better racer!

David in Sydney: You can’t expect a driver to go into a race with defective brakes! It would be a safety issue come the first corner. Yes a driver can clean his brakes up with pressure, but it might take a few braking sessions to restore.

I think it would have given us a better feel for Lotterer’s real f1 ability had Kobayashi been in the other car. Ericsson, too me, is not much of a marker and whether Lotterer has driven a poor F1 car or not (I believe he tested in F1) he has a pile of miles at Spa in all different conditions.

James, did Caterham not bring the first upgrades, in quite awhile, to Spa?

I’m a bit confused by the Chilton thing. Fair enough getting a leg up from your Dad if he can afford it, and you’re talented enough to take full advantage, that’s what Dad’s do, lucky Max. But to go on paying to keep Max somewhere where he clealry doesn’t belong just makes them both look a bit silly it seems to me.

Bloody hell, those Lotus drivers were working hard! That car looked a real handful and both cars spun during the session! Usually when you have a bad season you pray for rain but I can’t see that being the case at Lotus this evening.

Once again its a Merc front row. I agree that Nico seems to have the measure of Lewie. Seems with Lewis its always something. Today it was a glazed disc. Lewis has been doing this long enough to know better IMHO. But s*** happens. Great seeing Kimi getting his act together.
And again my complaint is with NBCsn. They should have titled the broadcast The Lewis Hamilton Show. The first 10 minutes was pretty much exclusively Lewis. A montage of Lewis’s breakdowns, fires, mistakes, what he did or didn’t do in Canada, Germany, Hungary and all the “woe is me” shots. Give it a break already there are 21 other drivers on the track but the broadcasters don’t seem to care about the cars on the track. Only what happens to Lewis. To be fair there were a couple of 3 second in car camera shots of Alonso, Vettel and Riccardo. To be clear I’m not a Lewis hater yet. The media working themselves into a drooling frenzy over Lewis will. The bottom line is I think Nico is the better of the two. Nico has been with Merc since day 1, with Schumi. Nico, in my opinion is probably the more complete driver. He along with Schumi helped develope the car, giving him insight that Lewis just doesn’t have and never will. He stepped into a winning drive at McLaren and did the same at Merc. He doesn’t seem to be able to overcome little mistakes that become a major problem at some point during a race weekend. Glazing a brake disc? It can be cleaned up, just don’t do it again tomorrow. There may be a bull, prancing horse or a Wiliams on the podium tomorrow. In fact, it wouldn’t bother me if both Mercs fall out. Close the points gap up a bit, make things a little more interesting. I find it ironic that fans that belittled Schumi and Vettel’s domination would be gushing with praise over Lewis doing the same.